ON LOVE; PART DC
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
Today IS Good Friday, the day that IS observed as the day that Christ died and here is the rub, Christ NEVER DIED….Jesus died on that cross nearly 2000 years ago; this IS the greater reality of those events that have in so many ways shaped world history. Death as we understand it IS the withdrawal of the Life force from the physical human body in the world and it this view there IS NO death of the Christ, the Life force of the man Jesus, there IS only the death of the form that was hung on that cross. And this same IS True when every man dies, that the Life force, the True man, is withdrawn from the physical form that IS KNOWN as Joe or Mary or whatsoever name or reputation one possessed in the world. Yes there ARE stark differences between the death of Jesus and the death of Joe or Mary but these ARE NOT differences in these dynamics of death, these are differences in the ability of the Soul to express his Life through form. In the Life of Jesus in this world, that Soul whom we call the Christ was FULLY capable of such expression and in His form Life as Jesus was able to shut out ALL influences from the illusion and the glamour that color the lives of other men. It IS in this way that the we have the reality of Jesus as the “only begotten Son” (John 3:16) of God; that He IS the fullness of the expression of the Godhead in the world and hence Paul’s saying to the Colossians that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
From our perspective then we have the death of the body of Jesus which He willingly gives up under the scope of the Great and Awesome Plan of God, in an event that IS predicted both before His birth into the world and by Him as He teaches His disciples. As we KNOW from scripture, none of this IS understood until it IS happening and this effects both His disciples and those who would put Him to death. According to our chronology 10, the Master predicts His own death several months before this Friday and that infamous exchange with the Apostle Peter ensues; we read this as: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men” (Mark 8:31-33). In this we should see first their disbelief and second how that the Master’s words could NOT be viewed in worldly terms; this IS however how this IS generally viewed yet today.
Not long after this first announcement to His disciples, the Master tells them of these things again and here we read that ALL are yet bewildered by His words: “And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:30-32). Can we see the point here? That the Master IS aware and willingly participating in this drama that will serve to change the very nature of Life in the world for many generations to come and that there are few who will escape His influence over the centuries. There IS yet a third time that the Master reveals His impending death on the cross to His disciples and this as they are approaching Jerusalem; we read: “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:31-34). We should note here the graphic detail as well as the disciples failure to see His meaning; and what should we understand in the idea that “this saying was hid from them” but that in their yet carnally focused minds they could not fathom the idea of His death and resurrection.
This IS the plight of every disciple and of every aspirant; that even after one’s commitment to Repentance and Transformation, the effects of duality persist as the man IS both in this world as a personality and in the Kingdom as a Soul who IS expressing the Life of a Son of God in the world or striving to DO so. And here is the reality of the idea of the Master as “only begotten Son“: in the Life of Jesus there IS no duality; He IS able to look past the temptations and the illusion and the glamour and focus totally upon the things of God; He IS “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” living in this world of men. There ARE deeply divine reasons for His death and His resurrection but these ARE NOT as atonement for the sins of men especially according to some supposed legalistic view; from our perspective the greater part of the reason for His willing acceptance of this fate IS in the lesson that it provided, the final miracle for His apostles and disciples as the show of His own Power and His True divinity. He tells His disciples many things about His impending death and about the service that it provides which we should understand in the depths of His saying that “I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:27) and the ultimate Truths found in one of His final acts of teaching which we read as:
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:13-17).
It IS not the actual washing of the feet here that IS of importance but the doing that which one would NOT want to do; doing for others even such a vile thing as washing their feet. We should remember the resistance that Peter offers to the Master as he sees Jesus, who he has KNOWN as “the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), as above this meager feat and we should remember the Master’s words, which have NOT been properly understood nor realized by doctrine, saying: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7). Jesus speaks these words to Peter and is IS likely that Peter DOES come to understand as we can see in the rest of what we KNOW of his Life and his service to ALL. There are many ritualistic foot washing ceremonies in commemoration of the Master’s doing so as He prepares Himself and His disciples for His death, and one should wonder how many of these are done in realization of the symbolism that IS involved in this act of service. In previous essays, In the Words of Jesus part 734-738, we spend much time discussing yet another vision of this washing of the feet; that there IS a dynamic relationship between this and the service that the Apostle Judas IS to about to perform for the Master and for the Plan….one that IS even more vile that the washing of feet.
The point here IS that this forsaking of His own human sense and His Life in the world with His disciples IS an act of service and a lesson regarding the death and the physical presence of a man in this world. There ARE many mistaken ideas across the many denominational views of the purpose of the Master’s death and most are developed from the subsequent writing of the apostles in the epistles; the greater reality IS however the Master’s willing participation in this. that this IS that necessary final lesson regarding the Life of the man in the world; that this Life IS of no meaning save for whatsoever it contributes to the Truth of the Plan of God. In the last essay we looked at the Master’s words regarding the eye and the hand and His teaching that these DO NOT matter in the Life of the True man, that the body nature IS ONLY for the expression of the Truth of the Love and the Power of the Soul. We noted that He tells us to “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28) and we should note as well that He tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we should “resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). This IS His teaching regarding the value of the flesh and hidden in this is the lesson regarding the value of the Life of the True man which CAN NOT be taken by men. And we should remember here as well that He tells us this in so many ways including:
- “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).
- “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life” (Luke 12:22).
- “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” John 12:25).
- “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
- “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
We DO NOT mean to imply that the Master is advocating that men give up their Life but rather that He IS telling us, and showing us by His own sacrifice, that this existence here in the world is of NO importance compared to the Life of the True man, the Soul. And this IS the lesson for the disciple and the aspirant, that they be willing to forsake ALL, including this Life in the world, for the furtherance of the Plan of God, part of which IS to bring ALL men to Repentance. And Peter sees this Truth as he tells us “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Here we should remember the Apostle Paul’s words that we cite so often regarding the very nature of Life in this world; we read: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). This IS our reality, a reality that IS only partially realized in the Life of Jesus who IS here in the world and subject to the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, but who had already been “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“.
What the Master DOES on this Good Friday IS to willingly give His own Life for the Plan of God and while the purposes that we cite here may not be the full and final Truth, they ARE a better Truth than much of doctrine has made of His great sacrifice. The idea of atonement has permeated most ALL doctrines in some way or another but it IS the reality of at-one-ment that IS the greater Truth and, even in the idea that this IS reconciliation, we can see this sense of Unity as the Life in the world IS reconciled to the Truth of the divinity of the True man; that the body nature IS sacrificed for this same purpose. As we have said, many of His teachings ARE oriented toward showing the man in the world, His disciples first and then us through them, the greater reality of Life in form and so much of our writing is in this same regard. Whether it IS the treasure of one’s heart or the fruit of one’s Life, the objective IS one and that is to teach us that our expression to the world MUST be an expression of Love and the service that this brings in relating these Truths to others. The Master teaches us these many things and He serves by His very way of living according to the fullness of the word of God; in His healing and his miracles the people in attendance are exposed to the Truth of the Power of a Son of God who can express His fullness in the world and His disciples are shown their very own ability to serve and to teach.
Perhaps it is the finality of death that created in them ALL the resistance to His words concerning His own death as we show above; they have seen and heard many great wonders yet they DO NOT understand this Truth of the Master’s death even after it has happened. And here we should see the necessity of it, that the need for the Master’s display of death and resurrection IS in the reality that this mental and emotional obstacle could only be overcome by His display. But this has not been realized by many who DO NOT yet understand the Truth of His teaching regarding this body nature which IS hidden away in parabolic language that few choose to explore as they rely upon the isolated sayings and devised doctrines of atonement. The most simple Truth IS missed here in the Easter season and that IS that we MUST keep His words; that this IS the Way to the Kingdom and to discipleship.
We did not get to continue with our discussion of the third chapter of the Epistle of James and especially on that ALL important saying regarding what IS Wisdom from above; we will try to get back to this in the next essay.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of 4 and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.
The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)5.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 10 A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels; Stephen J. Hartdegen, O.F.M., S. Scr. (1942)
